plant-inspired food + lifestyle

Not so vegan line at UTA’s Connection Cafe?

The new vegan line at Connections Cafe has been vastly appreciated by students on campus.

Education junior Andrea Fleeman has been eating at the vegan line every day, and she has been very satisfied with the changes. She has even been taking pictures of her vegan meals at the cafe to show how great the options have been lately. However, today there were some complications with the food offered.

Read Fleeman’s guest post below to find out the recent problems with the line:

I bounced up to the vegan Line at the Connections Cafe today. The featured dish was noodles with vegetables in peanut sauce. It looked delicious, so I asked the cook, Mike, to give me everything. He put some olive oil in a pan and started stir-frying the vegetables. Just then, the chef, Roberto, came over. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But not everything here is vegan today. The noodles have eggs and there is something in the sauce, too.”

Spiced rice and veggies. Photo courtesy of Andrea Fleeman.

Understandably, I was fairly upset, though I tried to keep my cool. I asked Roberto why there were non-vegan items in the vegan line, and he explained that the executive chef had made a mistake.

I pointed out that other vegans and those who want to eat vegan for religious reasons, who might have eaten the noodles would be very upset. The whole purpose of this line was so that people wouldn’t have to question what was in their food, I explained. He apologized.

I know it’s not Roberto’s fault. I’m glad he came and pointed out what I couldn’t eat, and he even got me some spiced rice from another station. But still, that was a close call, and I just hope that no one else inadvertently ate something they wouldn’t have if they had been informed.

In addition to that, during lunch today, the vegan station was making omelets. I don’t know why, and I was vastly disappointed. Luckily, there were couscous polenta patties and plenty of hummus. Still, today was a total fail for the vegan line.

Andrea Fleeman is an education junior and the Vegan Club treasurer. She was involved in communicating the vegan needs of the campus to dining services.

What have your experiences been with Connection Cafe’s vegan line? Feel free to share in the comments below!

I also invite you to take pictures of your vegan food experiences at UTA, and tweet them to me so they can be featured on the Vegan Club’s tumblr!